The government should hire a chief plant health officer to help combat pests
and diseases that threaten to devastate UK tree populations, an expert has
said.

As the fungus responsible for ash dieback continues to destroy ash tree populations throughout Britain, Chris Gilligan, professor of mathematical biology and head of the school of biological sciences at Cambridge University, said that having a dedicated adviser in government is key to fighting against threats to plants.

“A chief plant health officer would really be very important in helping us identify what are the key major pests and pathogens that we should be concerned about that have risks to trees in this country, and what contingency plans we should have in place to cope with the invasions,” Prof Gilligan said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.

He also called for better use to be made of scientific advances in the battle against plant diseases and parasites.

“We need to make better use of the scientific developments such as modelling diagnostics in predicting where these pests and pathogens are, so we can move quickly.”

He said that ash dieback is “likely to continue to spread rapidly”, while a whole raft of pests and diseases are set to hit the UK shores, including ones afflicting larch trees.